english

About The Department

The Department of English was originally set up as the Department of English and Other Modern European Languages after Visva-Bharati became a Central University in 1951. Many distinguished teachers of English like Balraj Sahni, Alex Aronson, Edward Thompson and Amiya Chakravarty taught here in the past. Apart from teaching English literature to UG, PG and PhD students and scholars, faculty members are involved in teaching academic courses like AECC, GEC and SECC under the CBCS system and along with these, the Minor and Multidisciplinary courses under NEP. The department is also engaged in interdisciplinary research. Texts written in languages other than English including Indian, European, Asian, African and South American languages in translation are also taught. The Department has put emphasis on teaching topics related to the Indian Knowledge Systems and Indian writings in translation, consistently. The faculty members frequently visit or are invited to foreign universities and renowned institutes located in various parts of the world and internationally known scholars of esteemed universities and institutes visit our department and deliver lectures.

The department collaborates with reputed national and international organizations like Sahitya Akademi, IACLALS, British Council and American Centre in various projects. The department received the UGC DRS (SAP) project on “Rabindranath Tagore: East-West Confluence” and has successfully negotiated the first (2009-10 to 20014-15) and the second phase (2015–2020) of the project. Centre for Modern European Languages, Literatures and Culture Studies (CMELLCS) started to function independently as a Centre since 2017. The Department of English offers BA (NEP & CBCS), MA and PhD programmes in English.

Photos

Academic Calendar

Achievements

Alumni Association

List of members of Visva-Bharati Alumni Association

Seminar and Workshops

Special Lecture

A special lecture titled ‘On Optics/Opsis: The History of Visual Contraptions and Image-making’ delivered by Dr Pinaki De, Associate Professor of English, Raja Peary Mohan College, Uttarpara, a graphic designer-illustrator and winner of PublishingNext Prize and Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize was organised on 2^nd April, 2025. Dr De’s talk touched upon some important moments in the history of visuality ranging from camera obscura to the changing grammar of painting in the European Renaissance, photograph and movie camera leading to photography and movie making to the relatively recent optical mega-holograms influencing video art to explore the collaboration between techniques of science and representation in expanding the human visual field and the aesthetics and politics of seeing.

Seminar

A seminar was organised on 30^th April, 2025 to commemmorate the Dalit History Month. Kalyani Thakur Charal, the renowned writer, poet and activist spoke on the historical and continuing institutional oppression of Dalits. Dr Mrinmoy Pramanick, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Calcutta discussed matters related to the pedagogy and practice of Dalit literature.

Invited lecture cum workshop

The department organised an invited lecture cum workshop by Liesl Schwabe, a Fulbright Fellow titled ‘Curiosity and Determination: A Workshop for Research Pathways’ on 9^th April, 2025. Though the workshop was open for all, it was meant specifically for undergraduate students to kindle their research interest and expose them to various methodologies of research.

One-day International Symposium

The Department of English organised a One-day International Symposium on 25^th March, 2025 on ‘Violence against Women’. This symposium was convened as continued observance of the International Women’s Day. The esteemed speakers were Prof. Prof. Margaret A. McLaren from Rollins College, Florida, Prof. Maroona Murmu, Jadavpur University and Prof. Swati Ganguly, Visva-Bharati. The speakers explored the interrelation of gender and violence from different perspectives. In the process questions related to the pedagogy of gender studies, the intersectionality of gender with class and caste were discussed followed by a question-answer session with lively participation of students.